NPC told to conduct study on job sector

KOCHI: The National Productivity Council has been asked to conduct a detailed study on the employment sector, especially the one which involves contract workers, in order to understand and solve the issues prevailing in the sector, said Union Minister of State for Food and Civil Supplies K V Thomas in Kochi on Monday.He was speaking at the inauguration of a day-long seminar on ‘Contract Workers- Issues and Solutions’, jointly organised by the Kerala State Productivity Council and the State Employment Department.He added that the council was asked to conduct the study in the backdrop of increasing problems faced by the 63,000-odd contract labourers working in the various godowns of the Food Corporation of India (FCI). State Labour Commissioner T T Anthony said that despite innumerable measures taken to eliminate the exploitation of contract workers, very little improvement was seen.The seminar was attended by the representatives of the contract labourer unions, members of the managements of contract labourers, the employment sector, and many others. Regional Labour Commissioner (Central) K Kanthaswami spoke on the various problems faced by the contract labourers and also possible solutions. Regional Workers Education Centre Director  Abdul Salam, advocate C Anilkumar, leaders of labour unions M M Laurence (CITU), K P Haridas (INTUC) and the members of the Productivity Council also spoke on the occasion.